CHRISTIANITY TREE

Christians are the ones who steadfastly believe that Christ is indeed the son of God, the prophetic messiah. The universal church is founded by our Lord Jesus Christ. It was in Antioch that the believers were first called Christians. (Acts 11:26).

The internet today describes Christianity as an Abrahamic monotheistic religion. It is based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Sure, but there is more to it that meets the eye.

Me, being asked which christian I am and upon learning that I am an Oriental orthodox christian. Many people look puzzled. They act as if the existence of something other than Catholic or Protestant christian is unfathomable. I simply smile and explain to them that St. Thomas was one of the chosen apostles of Christ. He traveled to India in AD 52. He converted the inhabitants with their own will and consent. Thus we came to be known as Orthodox christian. This is true about orthodox but not the whole truth. For it may require a real substantial amount of time to explain it properly. So, let me. I really hope that I keep it to the point.

I am from Indian Malankara Orthodox Syrian church, under the patron St.Thomas ( one of the apostle of Christ). The history of my church is very interesting and if I do happen to share it some day, you would surely be intrigued. Cause the history of my church contains fight for our own heritage, oppression from other christian missionaries (they thought we were not authentic Christians and burned most of our religious texts and relics), honorable martyrs, internal division, a famous oath (Coonan Cross Oath /Koonan Kurishu Sathyam) we took, the legal battles and at last the sweet victory we deserved (For St. Thomas had built 8 churches in south of India, which would have been lost and in worst case scenario we would have been termed heretics or would have been non-existent). But today, I just want to present the whole christian church denomination.

Like most of the other widely accepted religion have denominations or hierarchy among them, so does Christians have denomination.

There are three main groups :

• The Orthodox Church
• The Catholic Church
• The Protestant Church

These three are the main parent denomination while there are subdivisions. The denomination had occurred because of difference in religious or theological opinions.

Our lord Jesus had been preparing His beloved apostles for the ministry of Christ, foretelling them everything about trials and persecution that they must endure in His name. Remember what I told you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. (John 15:20)

After our Lord sacrificed Himself on the the cross till the time of His resurrection, His apostles couldn’t really spread God’s message. Cause they lacked courage(gift of Holy Spirit), fearing the Pharisees, Sadducee, Roman officials and Jewish chief priest. Lord Jesus knew their tender heart. He gathered His flock together which were scattered, comforted and guided them.

On the day of Pentecost, Holy Spirit descended upon Mother Mary and the twelve apostle in the upper room, Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit came like strong wind. What seemed like a tongue of fire then rested on each one of them. After receiving the Holy Spirit, the apostles started to speak in different tongues. The foreign crowd understood and marveled at this, as they had come to Jerusalem for pilgrimage purposes. People from Parthia, Medes, and Elamites were there. Residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia were included. People from Pontus, Phrygia, Pamphylia, and Egypt were present. Those from the parts of Libya near Cyrene also listened. Visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, heard them. Cretans and Arabs heard the apostles speak in their language (refer Acts 2: 1-12). St. Peter, now full of Holy Spirit, proclaimed about Christ. The crowd received the word of God, willingly repented their sins and got converted to Christians. It is accounted that 3000 were converted that day.

The Apostles and evangelists preached the word of God around the world. Thus many new believers continued to profess the love of God even amidst tribulations faced. Through the fierce persecution the word of God still bloomed and spread around everywhere. Churches were built with the blessing of their patron saints. Bishop, priests and deacons were appointed to look after the flock of Christ. Those era there was only one faith and one widely accepted church i.e Christ till there were certain theological dispute which created several fraction.

In AD 330, the Roman Emperor Constantine (now a vivid christian believer) shifted his capital to Constantinople. This caused a lot of political and ecclesiastical changes. In AD 395, Emperor Theodosius divided his administrative setup into Eastern and Western segment and this was one of the causes for the division between East and the West.

In AD 451, the Council of Chalcedon was held after the council of Nicea, Constantinople and Ephesus. The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, AD 451, at Chalcedon, a town of Bithynia in Asia Minor. The Council was called by Emperor Marcian to discuss the human and divine nature of Jesus Christ. The council concluded with adapting that the Christ had two perfectly combined nature but some strongly disagreed to the council and rejected it. They believed that Christ had one and only one nature at a time. That Christ is complete God and took complete human form on earth. Thus there was a split, the oriental orthodox is the sect that rejected idea council of chalcedon. I am from Oriental orthodox church, Indian Malankara orthodox syrian church is what I represent.

Later, the christian church got divided into eastern and western in AD 1054. The Roman catholic church stood with the western fraction whereas the orthodox (eastern) churches stood with eastern group.

The causes of this division is as follows:

• Changes in faith and rituals
• Political differences
• The Pope’s and Patriarch’s love for power
• The controversy of filioque (the question of the procession of the Holy Spirit).

The arguments between the western and the eastern churches reached its zenith. This happened when the heads of churches issued censures. They also issued excommunications against each other. In 1043 AD, the patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius issued excommunications. In later years, Pope Leo IX of Rome did the same. Pope asked the Patriarch who turned against the Roman church to appear before him. The Patriarch refused to receive the Papal representatives, and these representatives excommunicated the Patriarch in the name of the Pope. The Patriarch retaliated by excommunicating the Pope and his delegates. Thus the Roman church and Byzantine (Eastern Greek) church got divided into two.

The consequences of the divisions:

• Ecumenical activities were disrupted.
• The mutual relationship between the churches was shattered.
• It activated missionary work.

Latin became the official language of the western church and greek became the accepted language of the Eastern church. The western church added new doctrines like purgatory and filioque. The eastern church denied them. It remained faithful to the unadulterated Apostolic faith.

The further division of Catholics is one of the major event occurred in the history. It all started when Reformation took place, 500 years ago, as Martin Luther (1483-1546) tried to reform the Catholic Church. His attempt to do so instead led to a schism in the church.

Roman Catholics at some point was not just a dominant religious group but also had become politically powerful. They could control the administration or were so influential that they governed a kingdom. Roman catholics believed that their patron saint St.Peter, being eldest among the twelve apostle, makes them superior over other Christians. They proclaimed Papal dogma which gave the Pope the ultimate power and so no lay person could question Pope.

So now bishops and priests started enjoying their new power. This lead into sins like gluttony, greed and hypocrisy. Questionable traditions were practiced, among them were the buying of pamphlets to absolve the sins committed.

The monk Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) is frustrated by the Catholic’s Church practice of selling indulgences. This practice allows people to buy spiritual salvation. He finds the practice fundamentally wrong in terms of theology.

His Bible study has left him with an unshakeable realization. A sinful person who believes in an all-powerful and absolute God is made righteous in the eyes of God. This very belief and God’s mercy and not through money, God pardons one’s sins.

Luther is convinced that the faithful can turn to their creator directly through prayer. They do not need a church as a middle man. They also do not require a priest. This is a radical idea that breaks the power of the Catholic Church. It starts with its religious doctrine.

Luther’s conclusions open the door for new freedoms. The decades after his famous“Ninety five Theses” saw significant changes. They were supposedly nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Church on October 31, 1517. Thus the birth of Reformist or Protestant Christians occurred. There are many reformists churches, each differ slightly with certain belief and order of worship. The Caholics for few short span of time really tried to subdue the new reformist christians but they failed miserably. Reformist churches are today very well known in the world and among other Christian group.

I really do hope the you got the gist of schisms or denominations among christians. I just wanted to throw light at the major Christian denomination. I have no anti-catholicism agenda, later history also witnessed that Catholics made peace and regretted their wrongdoings. Pope and Patriarch are in friendly terms. I pray that there be tranquility and harmony among humans irrespective of different beliefs.

This is really interesting. We understand that even though the path of our religious practice is different, our destination is the same. The same applies to the wagon of belief. It is Christ’s new heaven, to sit at the right hand of our heavenly father. We all are meant to be called children of our lord Jesus Christ. Now, I can truly contemplate this. I understand when the Christ’s disciples argued about who is greatest among them all. Here, the disciples can portray our church denomination of different saints. Christ took the little child. He set an example of being humble as the child. That is the true sign of being greatest (refer Mathew 18:1-6).

For humility, faith and repentance before God is everything which counts. And He said, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. ( Luke 7:50) Let’s love our God Jesus. We should be humble before Him. Everything belongs to Him.

~ J George Thomas aka A R T

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